In recent years, Apple has gradually reduced its dependence on the Chinese market and plans to transfer some of its production capacity out of China. This decision was based primarily on cost considerations. With the development of China's manufacturing industry, labor costs continue to increase, resulting in Apple's production costs also increasing. In contrast, emerging markets such as India and Vietnam have lower labor costs, so they are the target for Apple to consider relocating production capacity. In addition, there are also risks associated with over-reliance on the Chinese market, such as the escalation of Sino-US frictions, and in order to diversify risks, it is necessary for Apple to deploy multiple production bases around the world.
However, it was not easy to smoothly transfer production capacity to a new site. The ** chain of the new base is relatively imperfect, and it is difficult to meet Apple's production needs. For example, only two Indian manufacturers, BOE and Samsung, can provide displays for Apple, and the production capacity is limited, and most iPhone screens still need to be imported from China. In addition, the overall strength of India's infrastructure and manufacturing industry is relatively insufficient, and some reports also show that the yield rate of India's leading merchants is only about 50%, which is lower than Apple's requirements. This is mainly due to the fact that the operational skills of Indian workers cannot be compared with Chinese workers, so the quality of the products cannot be guaranteed.
1. The ** chain is not perfect
The most immediate problem faced by Apple in transferring production capacity is that the ** chain of the new base is not perfect enough. In addition to the display screen, it is difficult for Indian manufacturers to completely replace China with key components such as chassis and circuit boards. This means that even if the production line is moved to India, the core components still need to be imported from China, and it is impossible to achieve complete decoupling. To solve this problem, the entire industrial chain needs to be re-cultivated, and this requires a long-term process.
2. The impact of emergencies
In the process of planning to transfer production capacity, Apple also needs to face the impact of some unexpected events. Recently, a fire broke out at a factory in Andhra Pradesh, India, which made Apple products, resulting in the destruction of part of the building. The factory needed to be shut down for months to be repaired, which was a big obstacle to Apple's transfer plans. Such an unexpected event once again demonstrates the risk of over-reliance on a single production base.
3. Time cost and quality control
If Apple were to move 10% of its production away from China, it would take at least 10 years to complete. While 10% capacity may not seem like much in numbers, it's still a huge number considering that Apple produces more than 200 million units a year. It was a daunting task to find a new site to undertake this part of the capacity and ensure that the quality and delivery times remained the same.
Due to the advantages of China's ** chain and the fundamental role of China's manufacturing industry, it is still very difficult for Apple to leave the Chinese market. Although Apple is trying to lay out new bases in India and other places, the upstream and downstream supporting facilities in these places have not kept up, and key components still need to rely on Chinese imports. In the long-term cooperation, Chinese manufacturers have been providing Apple with key display modules. This chain relationship is unlikely to change anytime soon. Moreover, China's manufacturing industry has accumulated many years of experience and technology, high-quality labor, perfect production network and fine management mode are the core competitiveness of China's first chain. It is still very difficult to transfer the entire production capacity from China in a short period of time.
Although Apple plans to transfer production capacity out of China, it will not be easy to achieve this goal. At present, the ** chain of new bases such as India is not perfect and cannot meet the production needs of Apple. Moreover, China's manufacturing industry has formed an irreplaceable position in the advantages and overall strength of the first chain. Therefore, although Apple is trying to reduce its dependence on the Chinese market to a certain extent, it is still very difficult to completely withdraw from the Chinese market in the short term. Apple needs to find a new production base without sacrificing quality and delivery time, and this will require a long-term process. At the same time, China's advantages lie in high-quality labor, perfect production network and refined management model, which cannot be replicated and surpassed in a short period of time. Therefore, the position of China's manufacturing industry in the global ** chain will continue to play an important role.